Imagine if you could bring a point-of-sale system and your inventory of goods and services to every conversation you have – at every social function you attend. Each interaction would bring the possibility of a new sales funnel with a seamless path to conversion, driving your growth potential exponentially.
That’s the essence of social commerce (without the awkwardness).
Social commerce is changing the purchasing behavior of consumers by removing barriers from awareness to action. As a consumer, you get to interact directly with the brand, making for a seamless experience. Not only can social commerce deliver a smooth experience in-channel, it’s also on track to bring an expected $80 billion in sales by 2025.
With the average daily time spent on social media worldwide clocking in at just under 2.5 hours, there’s every reason to invest in building your social commerce strategy. Let’s look at how to get started in this growing space without getting swallowed up by the noise.
1. Know your audience (and your platform)
TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest are the core social media channels where businesses can find traction – but which are your most active and engaged social platforms? It isn’t necessarily the channel your brand posts on the most, but where you get the most interaction with your content. When you focus on building and fostering a community through engagement, you cultivate brand loyalty and lay the groundwork for successful social commerce.
If you don’t already have clear analytics from these platforms on your existing audience, use research to determine where the highest concentration of your target market spends their time. Once you’ve established where you’re most likely to resonate, focus your efforts there.
2. Feed the (algorithm) beast
Once you establish your most audience-engaged platforms, prioritize making regular posts and engaging with followers. More input really does equal more output – especially when it comes to how the algorithms work to create a great user experience. As new users will continue to find your page and get to know your brand, ensure you share social proof to reinforce credibility and move people down the purchase path. People need to see reviews to know you’re a legitimate company if their first introduction to your brand is on a social platform.
How do you make your brand and products stand out from the noise? Use a combination of regular posts, lives, reels, and stories. Create shoppable posts for quicker conversions, incorporate user-generated content (UGC), and partner with influencers for extended reach and authentic reviews. Whatever form the social content you share takes, be sure to link the products you feature to reduce friction and allow for easier conversions.
Continue a full social strategy for maximum benefit. Layering additional tactics on top of your regular posts, such as working with an influencer and buying ads on the platform, can ensure your posts don’t get lost in the noise. OneMagnify can help develop a comprehensive strategy to build a strong social media presence for your brand.
3. Keep the conversation going
With a more complete customer journey from discovery to purchase, you want to ensure your profile includes user-generated content through comments and reactions. This makes social proof easy to access, getting your audience closer to taking action. Focus on building a solid following and utilize social listening to better understand what your audience wants.
4. Turn data into results
One benefit to social media is the wealth of data you collect. Don’t sit on it – use it! Combine the out-of-the-box data and insights available within the platform and when you’re ready to extract more actionable analytics, the OneMagnify team can help turn your insights into a full social commerce strategy.
5. A strong strategy paves the way for growth
With each platform’s built-in commerce functionalities, creating a new revenue stream through social media channels is easy and requires minimal upfront costs. When trying anything new that connects directly to your audience, having a strong content strategy to align content with conversions can expand your success. Connect with the OneMagnify team to dig deeper into your data and further scale your social commerce efforts.
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